Ceremony
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Voldemort and Severus has opted for a night of quiet celebratory drinking, in preparation for the bonding ceremony the next day, and the grand masquerade ball that had been arranged. The meeting had gone well, the new recruits had been marked, everyone else knew precisely what their positions were and what was going to happen next.
The couple were close together on the sofa, relaxing with several bottles of wine after a long, tiring night of battle, however, neither could sleep.
Severus was about to suggest that they tried, as the bonding ceremony was going to begin in ten hours, when there was a quiet tap on the door. "Come in," Voldemort called, sitting up.
The door was pushed open, and Ginny Weasley entered. Severus realised that she was dressed completely in black velvet, a long sleeved, tight fitting dress that flared from the waist down. She wore a black net veil over her face, and Severus could see black adorned eyes underneath it. To both men's surprise, she swept them a deep curtsey. "I hope you don't mind," she murmured, stepping closer to them. "I had an elf bring me here."
"Not at all, my dear," Voldemort replied, hastily standing up. "Come and sit down."
"I have something I wish to ask you, my Lord," she responded as she sat down.
Voldemort cast Severus a furtive glance; clearly he wasn't in the mood to inform Ginny that her entire family were dead. He sighed. "I have something that you need to know first, Miss Weasley."
Ginny shook her head. "No, you don't," she said swiftly, very much to Severus's surprise. "I know my family are dead." Voldemort's eyes were wide open in shock. "I am sorry for their loss, of course I am." Her eyes were downcast for a moment as she took in a deep breath. "But this is where I wish to be. I understood that if you were to win, they would die."
"And you still want this?" Voldemort asked her, his tone slightly disbelieving.
"Yes," Ginny replied softly. "You know I've always wanted this. You saw it in me, only then I didn't see it." Slowly, she extended her right arm towards him. Voldemort grasped her forearm tightly in his hands.
"No," Severus interrupted. "Not the Mark." Voldemort looked towards Severus, and as their eyes met, he nodded.
"Not the Mark," Voldemort repeated quietly as he looked back to Ginny. Instead he brought her hand to his lips, and placed a soft kiss onto it.
"Why?" the young girl asked, a confused frown on her features. "Surely I need the Mark to join you?"
Severus stood up, and began to walk towards the drinks cabinet. "You are too good for the Mark. Too innocent, certainly," he said as he took out a clean crystal goblet and poured wine into it. As he turned around, he continued. "You don't need to be corrupted by the Death Eaters." He handed Ginny the glass. The girl stared at it wondrously; clearly she'd never seen wine before, let alone a crystal goblet. "And believe me, they would try." As Severus sat down, he laced an arm loosely around his lover. "She'll be like me," he added, looking to Voldemort.
Ginny, still having not taken a sip, looked up. "Like you, Professor?" she asked, natural curiosity in her tone.
"Severus has always refused to partake in punishments, unnecessary killings, torture, rape and whatever else there is," Voldemort said quietly. "He isn't like the rest of the Death Eaters, who seem to thrive off of it." Ginny's eyes widened, she hastily looked back down to the wine as if she suddenly regretted her choice. "He's certainly the least likely Death Eater I've ever known, but he's become the most powerful."
"Only because of you, love," Severus said quietly. "I never would have done it by myself..."
"Severus, you did it yourself," Voldemort chided, smacking his lover hard on the thigh. Severus winced. "Why don't you show Ginny your arm?"
Severus raised an eyebrow at Voldemort, but turned back to Ginny. "I used to have the Dark Mark, but Voldemort here removed it for me." He shot his lover a glower. "That hurt more than having it put on in the first place."
"What have you got now?" Ginny asked quickly, sitting up straighter with interest. Severus slowly pulled up the sleeve of his robe to reveal the words 'Lord Voldemort' written in a pink scar across his forearm. She gasped. Voldemort did the same, revealing 'Severus Snape' on his arm. "What's it for?"
"It's a blood sacrifice, but I thought we should get the marking part of our bonding ceremony over with sooner," Voldemort replied. "There's certainly no escaping the final ceremony now, highly unfortunate for me," he continued with a smirk, his tone light and witty.
"I wish that curse had backfired today," Severus said loudly, his eyes fixed onto the ceiling. Voldemort chuckled. "No," Severus replied, now looking back to Voldemort. "I am serious."
"I know you're not," Voldemort responded, now laughing. "What Severus forgets, Ginny," Voldemort said, turning to Ginny. "Is that we have a mental connection. We can't hide anything from each other without a great deal of difficulty." Severus hastily began to Occlude. Voldemort laughed again. "And now he uses Occlumency against me!"
Ginny giggled girlishly, and Severus couldn't help but smile. She seemed to be enjoying herself a lot. After a moment of staring down at her goblet, Ginny lifted it to her lips. "Well, here goes," she said quietly, and took a nervous sip. Then she took a massive gulp of it, and her face broke into a wide smile. "Delicious!"
"Corrupted already," Severus muttered, shaking his head in mock disdain. "I would never have done anything like that before I met you, love. You have a knack."
"Oh, Severus, whatever you like to think goes, of course, but think back to when you got your Dark Mark." Voldemort knew that was all he needed to say to silence Severus, and sure enough the man turned pink and closed his mouth with a sharp snap. "Well, he can't remember it, put it that way," Voldemort continued to Ginny. There was a tap on the door. "Come in," Voldemort called, tilting his head back to look at the opening door. Lucius entered, followed behind by Draco.
Ginny glowered at the young blonde man. "Malfoy," she said coldly.
Draco looked shocked to see her there; he narrowed his eyes and glared at her. "Weasley," he replied, just as cold.
Lucius sat down next to Severus. "Thought we should get this meeting over before the ball tomorrow night," he whispered, as Voldemort began to speak. Severus held back his snort of laughter.
"Draco, Ginny is my newest recruit," Voldemort said, standing up and walking towards Draco, beckoning to Ginny for her to follow him. "She will be living here indefinitely. You two had certainly better begin to get used to being civil to each other, as you will be working closely together as my new young ones. Believe it or not, Lucius and Severus were also once my young ones." Voldemort smirked. Severus tossed a cushion at his lovers head; it missed him by inches and hit the wall. "You've got to kiss me now, because you missed," Voldemort teased, and to everyone's surprise, Severus jumped up and kissed his lover briefly on the lips. The Dark Lord chuckled, his eyes on Severus for a moment, but quickly turned his attention back to Ginny and Draco. "So forget your differences, in my eyes you are both pure blooded and powerful, and equal."
The pair stared at each other for a moment, before they simultaneously held out a hand each for the other to shake.
"Draco, perhaps you could give Ginny a quick tour of the manor, and then take her back to her rooms?" Severus asked softly, one eyebrow raised. "Don't forget, there's tomorrow night for celebrating." Draco nodded, and offered his arm for Ginny to take. She giggled, and Severus could hear them talking as they walked down the corridor.
Lucius stood up. "Now that's over, I think I'll head back. Narcissa's in bed, expecting me." He smiled knowingly, and headed for the door. Half way out, he added a cheeky comment on. "Do try and get some sleep, gentlemen."
Voldemort chuckled darkly. "You aren't important enough to prevent me killing you for cheek, Malfoy!" he shouted.
From outside the door, Lucius laughed. "I don't doubt it, my Lord. I'm running away now."
Voldemort laughed again, before he turned back to Severus. "Celebratory sex tonight, or tomorrow?" Voldemort asked his lover softly as the door shut softly behind Lucius.
Severus smiled and kissed Voldemort briefly on the lips. "Perhaps we should take Lucius's advice. I'm not even sure I could stay awake for sex."
"Mm." Voldemort pushed back against him, and kissed him hard and passionately for a couple of minutes. "We certainly shall have enough time for this tomorrow night."
"My views entirely," Severus replied, smiling.
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Severus awoke to an empty bed the next morning. "Love?" he tested, making his connection with the Dark Lord.
"Lucius will be with you soon, Sev, and I shall see you shortly."
Severus smiled, Voldemort clearly didn't want to see him until it was time for the ceremony. He yawned, and stretched, and headed for the shower to wake himself up, nervous and excited. Today certainly was a new beginning for everyone.
When he walked back into the bedroom, Lucius was sat on the bed waiting for him. "Severus," Lucius acknowledged, standing up.
"Hello, Lucius," Severus replied quietly.
"I took the liberty of ordering your breakfast," Lucius said, gesturing towards the sitting room. "The Dark Lord said you would probably refuse, but would like to remind you that you will need your strength."
"Oh, did he?" Severus responded with a smirk, pulling on his specially made dark green silk dress robes and heading towards the next room. Voldemort had decided they would not be wearing any black for their ceremony. "Will you be joining me?"
"Of course," Lucius replied, smiling now. "How do you feel?"
"Nervous," Severus muttered as he sat down and began piling his plate.
"To be expected, naturally," Lucius said as he sat down and filled his own plate. He poured each of them a mug of black coffee. "The Dark Lord also wanted me to remind you that you need to pick up the potion before you leave for the ball room."
Severus nodded. "Where is he this morning?" Severus asked, a frown crossing his brow. "He wasn't called away?"
"He's met Miss Weasley for breakfast to discuss her future, and I think, to distract himself from his nerves," Lucius replied, and Severus noticed the small smirk on the man's lips. It must have been a weird thing to come out with, for Lucius, who was meant to be one of the vast populations of people who found the Dark Lord to be mostly emotionless.
"I expect so," Severus agreed, putting a few items of food on his plate, only for Lucius's benefit. "Did you feel like this on your wedding day?" Severus asked a moment later.
Lucius chuckled. "Insides churning?"
"Something like that," Severus responded quietly.
"Every man and woman feels it on their wedding day. You and the Dark Lord are no exception." Lucius smiled. "Come. We do not have long left. We're expected downstairs in a few minutes."
Severus nodded, and finished his coffee as he stood up, his insides now really churning. He headed into the bathroom and slid open one of the golden mirrored cabinets, pulling out a black leather box. This was where he kept his most important potions. Inside another smaller box, with cushioned edges for extra security, was the potion for the ceremony, in a shiny silver bottle with tiny emerald green snakes coiled around the outside of it. Inscribed in small curly letters was the word Iniquus.
"I am ready," Severus called to Lucius, taking one last look at himself in the mirror. Carefully, he smoothed down his hair, a part of him suddenly worried that this wasn't real, and that he would soon wake up to a loveless world, as the hated Potions Professor of Hogwarts school. Shaking himself, he turned and walked back into the sitting room, handing the bottle to Lucius. Together, they left the room and headed down the stairs to the ball room.
Hands shaking, Severus opened the door to the room and stepped confidently into the room, acting more then he really felt. The room was bare, except for a large table at the end of the room on the platform in which Voldemort's throne usually sat upon. There was a deep green tablecloth on it, two sets of silver candelabras with green candles lit on them, two silver goblets and a quill, a bottle of ink and a piece of parchment. Severus walked forwards, aware of three sets of eyes on him. Slowly, he looked first to Ginny, who was wearing her deep green velvet dress as she'd been promised, and then to the Dark Lord, who was dressed in matching robes to his own. Voldemort didn't smile, his eyes were merely fixed onto his lovers. Severus jumped at a slight sound he heard, as Lucius set the bottle of potion onto the table, dead centre, just in front of the parchment. Slowly, Voldemort held out his hand towards Severus, who took it and walked forwards with his lover to the table.
Severus knew what he had to do. His eyes on Voldemort's for a moment, he dropped onto his knees, and brought his eye line forward. Severus steadied himself with a deep breath as Voldemort began to speak. "We are here to invoke the Iniquus binding ceremony between myself and Severus Snape today," he said quietly. A moment later Severus felt a cool hand on his shoulder, and his heartbeat slowed back to it's normal pace slightly. Voldemort stepped forwards, and poured half of the bottle into one goblet, and the other half into the second goblet. He picked them both up, and handed one to Severus. Together, the drank the potion.
Instantly, Severus felt the magic working. He felt slightly giddy for a second, but as Voldemort began to speak the invocation the feeling faded away. "Maritus adfluo pervigil, cura nam sulum aliu, vici et secutuus, nostrum laboris incipio modo."
A tremor shook through Severus's body, and he began shaking again, as did the hand that had been steadily resting on his shoulder. "Severus Snape, do you take me to be your bonded husband and Master, do you allow me to care for you, to love you and to guide you?"
Severus looked up at Voldemort, and nodded. "I do," he said softly, finding strange tears in his eyes. Voldemort had never sounded like this before, he was quiet, kind and loving. And he was smiling down at his lover as if he'd never seen anyone that beautiful before. "Lord Voldemort, do you take me as your husband and submissive, do you allow me to obey you, to love you and honour you?"
"I do," Voldemort replied, his smile growing. "Severus, my husband, will you allow me complete ownership over your body, heart and soul, until the end of our time and onwards?"
"I will," Severus replied, and began to feel very turned on suddenly. "My Master," Severus continued, knowing if this wasn't over quickly he wouldn't be able to wait until the evening for bedtime. "Will you always be by my side when I need you, will you let me love you wholly and will you treat me with the respect I crave?"
"I will." Voldemort bend down, and taking both of Severus's hands pulled his lover up to standing. Severus was amazing he didn't pass out or fall over, his head was spinning well enough to be doing so. Voldemort picked up the quill and signed his name where it said, and handed Severus the quill. As soon as the pair kissed, the ceremony would be over, the effects of the potion gone. Hastily, Severus signed, not caring to see what the paper said. He was pulled towards the edge of the platform, and he felt cool lips against his own, kissing him with such heat it didn't feel natural.
For the second time because of their bond, Severus saw the world turn black as his slipped out of conciousness and passed out. The last thing he saw was Voldemort's happy face turning into that of concern, and getting smaller as he fell back.
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Severus awoke on the sofa, with Voldemort bent over him staring at him cautiously. "You alright there, love?" Voldemort asked as he saw Severus's eyes open. Slowly, Severus sat up.
"Yeh." He paused, his eyes now focused onto his lovers. "Did... Did it work?" he asked cautiously, now suddenly concerned something had gone wrong.
Voldemort handed him the piece of parchment that they had signed during the ceremony. The black ink had turned into a shiny silver colour, which meant they had successfully been bonded together. Severus smiled, and pulled his lover... His husband closer to him, and kissed him hard.
When they finally pulled apart, Voldemort spoke. "We have a while before we must get ready for tonight, and there is something I wish to do. Will you accompany me?"
Severus nodded. "Of course," he replied, feeling intrigued by Voldemort's mysteriousness.
The Dark Lord smiled. "Excellent. I have a few things to prepare, perhaps you should have something to eat before we leave?"
Severus nodded, taking the hint that Voldemort wanted whatever this was to be a surprise. He headed down the stairs to the kitchen, still unsure what he wanted to eat at that moment.
A small smile remained on his lips for the remainder of the half an hour he was away from Voldemort for, growing especially wide whenever a Death Eater saw him in the corridors and bowed. He'd never felt power like it before.
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Well, I got a review this morning informing me I hadn't updated in a month, and thought I should get a move on! You won't be waiting long for the next chapter, most of it's written except for Voldemort's little secret which is only half written. A couple of days at the most!
Please review.
Excessively Complex